


Ino-Hime

by theGirlwithtoomanyOTPs



Category: Naruto
Genre: AU, F/M, InoShika, ShikaIno - Freeform, naruto - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-25
Updated: 2015-02-23
Packaged: 2018-03-09 01:16:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3230729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theGirlwithtoomanyOTPs/pseuds/theGirlwithtoomanyOTPs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU wherein Ino is not part of Team 10</p><p>When the heiress of the Yamanaka clan Ino is kidnapped, Team 10 is assigned to retrieve her to safety.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tsubasa_1742](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsubasa_1742/gifts).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU where Ino is not part of Team 10
> 
> The Yamanaka heiress has been kidnapped and Team 10 is tasked with retrieving her to safety.

Yamanaka Inoichi lay in his bed looking frail as he ever was; a shadow of what had once been one of the most gifted nin and feared Interrogations Head of the Konohagakure Intelligence Division.

Nara Shikamaru could barely believe that this was the man his father used to brag beings friends and teammates about. But the roaring fire in his blue eyes remained alive and gave Shikamaru some stirring in his gut that convinced him that this man could still send him through hell if he wanted to.

But he wouldn't do that right now. He needed their help after all.

He’d asked his old friend, Shikamaru's dad Shikaku, to personally help. But his Dad had missions of his own at the moment. So he instead sent Shikamaru, much to the old man's obvious dismay.

He didn't care that Shikamaru was a genius or a _jounin_ -level _chuunin_ or that he's consistently being asked to become an ANBU _taichou_ or that he was a great general in the battlefield.

He wanted the elder Nara whom he worked with during his younger, healthier days.

That was unfair, because he didn't mind Chouji being part of the team.

Chouji's father was also Inoichi's friend and could not be taken from his mission. Like Shikamaru's father, he had been diligently sent.

Inoichi welcomed him better than he had welcomed Shikamaru.

Normally, Shikamaru wouldn't give a damn but it was unsettling even his calm demeanor. He didn’t even do anything! (Granted, a lot of people scowled at him for doing nothing but this man didn’t know him.)

The moment one of the servants announced that he and his team would be in charge of the mission, his scowl had just become more pronounced by every passing minute.

The problem was he couldn't voice out his displeasure. So he saved it for glaring on Shikamaru instead.

 _So troublesome_ , Shikamaru snipped to himself.

The Yamanaka clan had asked for help to save the heiress. The only child and daughter of Inoichi; a girl of his age named Ino.

They had refused to take any other nin that Tsunade-sama herself sent until she gave in and asked for Team 10.

Shikamaru, Chouji and Hinata, a last minute replacement for their recovering teammate Kana, came.

Now, Shikamaru and Chouji knew very well that their fathers had once been the legendary Ino-Shika-Cho trio back in the days of the Third Shinobi World war. It was supposed to pass on to their generation but Inoichi decided against it when his wife died after giving birth to his daughter, leaving him with no other heir.

His clan rule had prevented him from marrying anyone else and having another child as only the firstborn would be the legal and accepted heir.

Even if he would be allowed he wouldn't have done so. He loved the late Yuriko. And so he refused to put his only child in harm's way.

As far as Shikamaru knew, Yamanaka Ino had not been allowed to take Chuunin exams after her days in the Academy. Even then, he was sure they'd never seen her shadow.

Shikamaru and Chouji had never laid eyes on their supposed teammate. (Though his father did mention once that she was extremely beautiful for her age.)

Inoichi coughed like a man on his deathbed. Which was probably the case, Shikamaru knew. The man looked like he wanted to be the one looking for his daughter and not sending **_newbies_** like him as a rescue party.

His breathing rattled and made the hairs on Shikamaru's arms rise.

As the servants hovered and tried to make the clan head comfortable, Shikamaru felt like Death was sweeping his robes in the room, the sound being Inoichi's irregular breathing.

Inoichi had just finished telling them about the kidnapping of his daughter late last night as she came home from visiting her mother's grave. She was being escorted by some men of the clan but they were found dead near the cemetery when Inoichi sent for a team to look for his daughter when darkness fell.

The only evidence it was a kidnapping was the ransom note tied to the kunai that was lodged on one of the escorts' bleeding head.

Asuma passed the bloody note to Shikamaru and he looked at it for a moment then passed it to Hinata.

The note asked for 20,000,000 ryo in four sunset's time or they will return the heiress' head in a rucksack, there was a map in the borders of the Rain and River country where to leave the money. The note said the 'Princess' will come back to Konoha in six days.

Shikamaru didn't need to read the rest of the letter to know it depended on whether the Yamanakas would provide the money or not if the so-called 'Princess' would come back alive or dead.

But money was no problem to the Yamanakas. They were merchants who had various businesses in every country, every town in the land. The Daimyos themselves favored clothes from Yamanaka's specially spun silk. However, in the Leaf they were more famous for their beautiful cultivated and specially bred flowers.

Shikamaru's own father always brought flowers by the dozen for his mother everytime he got home from a mission.

The money was no problem, but the clan head was worried for his daughter. The other elders had also expressed their worry that their blood limit was to be exploited by whomever had taken their future head.

Hence, the rescue mission.

Tsunade had informed Shikamaru that this was to be a B-rank mission. With the political strings the Yamanakas had pulled with elder villages and due to the fact that they will be facing a group of missing nin.

Apparently this hadn't been the first time a wealthy heir had been kidnapped for ransom and for their blood limit.

In fact, the Hyuuga clan had faced the same problem years ago, when Hinata was only five years old. It was a reason why Hinata, though severely forbidden by her own clan, took the job voluntarily. She wanted to stop them from taking all these people.

Her cousin Neji would have volunteered for her or to accompany her but Tsunade could only spread her forces too far. And Neji's Team Gai was assigned to deliver the money and exterminate the group who takes it while Team Asuma did the rescue.

These missing nin were trying to gain blood limit techniques.

Intelligence reports that they may be hiding the Yamanaka girl in the far northern borders of the Land of Water but nowhere near Kirigakure for assistance. Though Tsunade says that's all well as the Yamanakas could not let the Kirigakure know about the kidnapping.

One family has been wanting to match their heir to Ino and was heavily offended when Inoichi outright refused.

Shikamaru wondered what the blood limit could be since his father had never confided that secret to him.

"We'll bring back your daughter," Asuma-sensei promised.

They all stood up and everyone bowed.

Inoichi waved them off after giving Shikamaru another stink eye.

* * *

"Argh," Shikamaru growled. "That old man is so _troublesome_! What did I ever do to him?"

Chouji didn't answer. He chewed silently on his chips as Shikamaru changed to his mission clothes.

Chouji knew better than let his friend waste his time on such thoughtless things. So to distract him, he wondered aloud, "Man, I wonder what Ino-chan looks like now. Remember how she used to be so pretty we both had a crush on her?"

Shikamaru paused from zipping up his flak jacket.

"What?"

"Remember that Spring Festival when we were about five..."

"What Spring Festival?" He would have remembered. He wasn't forgetful. He may seem like he droned away from the present from every now and then but he had a mild form of eidetic memory and it kept him constantly remembering even the most mundane things. He couldn't remember ever meeting the heiress. He was sure---

"You know, the girl with the yellow kimono with cherry blossom patterns!"

* * *

_Shikamaru had refused to wear a yukata like Chouji. It was too **troublesome** to have to wear something for **nothing**._

_"Your father's friends will be there, Shika," his mother told him. "And you'll meet Inoichi and his daughter."_

_"I don't care," he whined to his mother as he tied his shoelaces._

_He'd opted for the same grey shirt with his family symbol and his black shorts. It was just a stupid, troublesome festival._

_He was only going because his Dad was taking the family and because he had to promise Chouji they were eating the specially made mochi. Lazy as he was, Shikamaru did not break his word._

_Shikamaru wondered idly if other five year olds had principles like he did or was he making everything troublesome for himself by bothering to have them._

_When he got there (refusing to hold either of his parents' hand on the way because that was so **not** happening. He was five. Not three.), he had to admit defeat. It looked like a pretty fun festival._

_There were rides everywhere and the air was only warm enough for Shikamaru to walk around without his hoodie or to sweat. The place smelled like what heaven would be to someone like Chouji. There were stalls in every which way with every which food from all over the land. Paper lanterns and lights were attached to tress and every surface available. People crowded everywhere and were generally having a good time. Kids younger and older than Shikamaru flitted in and out of the crowd bearing food, toys and prizes hard won._

_When they got there, he found Chouji and his mom buying some ramen burgers. Mrs. Akimichi gave him one and though he wasn't hungry, out of politeness and fear of his mother, ate quietly._

_Chouji insisted on riding on the carousel and had gotten in line before Shikamaru could even say 'no'._

_They were waiting for their turn when Shikaku, Choza and a long haired blond man came up to them. His father had an arm around the man and he was grinning widely. The blond man kept a small smile on his face._

_"Shikamaru, Chouji," Choza began. "This is Yamanaka Inoichi, our MIA best friend."_

_Shikamaru and Chouji bowed and the man ruffled their hair with one large hand._

_"Spitting images of their runty fathers in that age!" He laughed and Shikaku groaned while Choza shrugged. He'd been very far from runty. Shikaku on the other hand..._

_"Look who's talking!" Shikaku huffed._

_Inoichi waved the protests away and it was only then when Shikamaru and Chouji saw him clutching a little blonde girl in a yellow yukata with pink cherry blossoms all over it to match the obi with his other hand._

_The men began to argue amongst themselves and laugh boisterously but  
Shikamaru was no longer paying them any attention._

_His eyes were on the girl._

_She had big blue eyes the color of the summer sea that looked only at Inoichi and a milky skin. Her hair was short and clipped and pale gold. She held her father's hand tightly with both of hers. Her smile was small but pretty when she heard her father laugh and Shikamaru thought his cheeks warmed at the sight._

_When she caught him staring, she frown and sought refuge behind her father, peeking at him and Chouji with one brilliant cloudless sky blue eye._

_Inoichi noticed his squirming daughter and smiled._

_"Ino, this is Shikamaru and Chouji," Shikaku smiled gently down at the girl. "They're your friends."_

_Shikamaru didn't correct his father. How can he be friends when they haven't even met before? He didn't think friendship went like that._

_He looked at Chouji and he was red. He waved at Ino dumbly and said, "hello, Ino!"_

_Shikamaru thrusted his small hands in his pockets and nodded at the girl._

_He'd never had girl ‘friends’ before because they were all too annoying for him. (Loud, bossy, troublesome girls.) But his father pushed one to be his friend and he couldn't do anything about that._

_Ino stepped forward when her father led her and Chouji beamed at her. She smiled at him without saying anything and she looked at Shikamaru with a piercing gaze like she was trying to pick on his mind and see who or what he was._

_He offered her a sly smile._

_She was going to be troublesome for sure._

* * *

Shikamaru finished dressing up and his pack was good to go.

"Huh," he managed.

"I think she's friends with Sakura-chan."

"Hn."

"I don't know any other Ino in this village."

"Hnngh..."

Shikamaru followed Chouji out with a goodbye to his mother and met Hinata and Asuma-sensei at the main gate.

Team Gai had already left an hour earlier than them and there was no one to bid them goodbye.

Asuma nodded to them. "Is everyone ready?"

Hinata strapped her backpack securely and nodded with Chouji as Shikamaru shrugged.

"Then let's go!"

They took off into the twilight and Shikamaru settled to an easy pace wherein he had to barely pay attention to where his feet met tree trunks. He just followed wherever Asuma stepped and began to comfortably think like he was back in his favorite hill cloud-watching during an ordinary afternoon.

In his mind he wondered what eleven years could do to the pretty and troublesome girl called Yamanaka Ino.

He smirked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (*updated and edited at 3/10/15)


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ino needs help. Soon. If only Team 10 would hurry up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is dedicated to tsubasa_1742 for giving me emotional roller coasters for her two ShikaIno fics. Namely Success Story and A True Love Story.
> 
> Mendokuse.
> 
> Sorry for the long hiatus. Been busy and all at work.
> 
> Surely when I get a break I'll be able to post again. My other Naruto fic is as unattended as this one so that's a shame. But hopefully soon I can post more.
> 
> If there's anyone out there who has opinions, feedbacks, suggestions or whatnot, I'd love to hear them.
> 
> (As for the spellcheck and stuff, sorry about that. I'm actually writing everything in a notepad and haven't been able to check. When I get the time, I'll correct all errors.)
> 
> Thanks for reading!

The sound of the slap rang across the cavernous tunnel.

She tasted salty blood in her mouth and tried to ignore the painful burning sting on her cheek as she heard her captors' malicious laughter bouncing off the walls, mocking her with long and loud echoes.

 _You bastards_ , she thought angrily.

She kept her angry gaze on the earth though, knowing full well that they wanted to rile her up. Any excuse to do her the physical harm that their leader forbid them to.

She would give them no reason to think she can kill them when she had the chance. All they would see is a helpless and scared little girl.

She was _the_ Yamanaka heiress.

And Yamanakas were nothing if not the greatest mind nins.

Although she may have been forbidden to walk on that path, Ino was a **true** Yamanaka to form.

And Yamanakas prided themselves best with knowing how to manipulate minds, how to exploit weaknesses and make them bigger. She wouldn't tarnish the reputation so easily. Her Daddy made sure of that.

_Just you give me a moment's chance and you scum are going to hell early._

She kept her glare to a minimum when she looked up to her abuser.

He smirked and grabbed her neck.

"So, Princess," he grunted with a breath that stank of previous meals. "How will you entertain us tonight?"

She didn't spit the blood out at him like she wanted to and curled her hands to fists under her kimono sleeves.

She would really enjoy kicking their teeth in.

She raised a soft and scared set of big blue eyes on them. She'd have to play damsel in distress for a little bit more.

And then she'd melt their brains to gravy mush.

* * *

Shikamaru plopped down on his sleeping roll and cradled his head with both arms.

Their camp had allowed him to have a nice clear view of the moonless and starless night, much to his dismay.

But that was okay. It meant they were getting close to Kiri.

Maybe half a day's run or less and they'd be able to find her.

Then he'll go home and sleep for as long as he can for as long as his mother would let him, Kami be willing.

Hinata wordlessly passed him a packet of jerky and he accepted in the same manner.

Chouji was tending to the fire and was mumbling about roast pork tenderloins his mother was supposedly making that night.

Hinata graciously asked him about his home.

Chouji gladly told her about the Akimichis.

It was no trouble, everyone knew the Nara jutsu and how the Hyuugas worked. But the Akimichis were always just known as a huge bunch. Nobody thought that their chakra was only as great as their mass.

Apparently, this was genuinely interesting to Hinata as she asked if she could observe him with the Byakugan one time or another.

She blushed when she asked but Chouji didn't mind. He asked if she'd tried on Naruto since it was still a mystery where he gets all his chakra but Hinata just went a deeper shade of crimson.

Asuma stepped out of the shadows in silence. He'd been tasked to do the traps for the night.

Kiri was a dangerous place to be caught off guard in your sleep, shinobi or not. Scratch that. Most especially if you're shinobi.

Shikamaru looked at his sensei and Asuma just lit a cigarette to pass the time. He was going to be the first on watch tonight because he wasn't a morning person when he went to bed early.

Shikamaru said that he wasn't a morning person at all. Or anytime, really, for that matter. Asuma stuck him with the last shift.

"If we leave before sunrise tomorrow, we'll reach the hideout before noon," Asuma informed them.

Chouji lightened up immediately. "Does that mean if we finish the mission in time for lunch, we get to?"

Asuma scratched the back of his head.

"Inoichi wants Ino home as soon as possible, Chouji. It wouldn't do to keep an old man waiting deathly sick for his daughter to come home safely," Asuma reminded him. "The same for Hiashi."

Hinata looked down. It was no secret how Hiashi treated Hinata in favor of her younger sister Hanabi. "My father wouldn't mind, sensei. Chouji deserves his lunch."

Chouji brightened and looked at Hinata with a beam in his eye. Asuma almost smiled.

"We can't dally around Kiri with _her_ in tow, anyway," Shikamaru said suddenly after he swallowed the jerky he'd been chewing thoughtfully on. "There are people in Kiri who want her. And you, too, Hinata. I know you can fight, but she probably has less of a chance not getting kidnapped again, blood limit or not."

Chouji grumbled in defeat as Hinata gave it some thought and Asuma sat down by the fire. He patted Chouji's back.

"Don't worry, Chouji," Hinata said kindly, comforting their big boned friend. "As soon as we get home, we'll go see Kana and have a huge lunch in her ward! She'll be glad to hear about the mission. And I'll cook anything you want."

Chouji gratefully took Hinata's hands. "Would you, would you really?!"

"Jealous, you mean," Shikamaru muttered to his self and rolled to his side as Hinata assured Chouji with her promises.

Kana had been really upset that they were going on a mission without her. But Sakura had insisted that Kiba's cousin needed at least two weeks' rest more at the very least. The damn poisoned kunais that gutted her had been very effective. She'd been lucky to survive such hits from a jounin-level rogue nin.

"Get sleep soon," Asuma told them. "The sooner we rescue her, the sooner we all go home."

* * *

Ino crawled to a corner and shrank away from him.

_"You'll be coming home, one way or another," he said with his cool smile._

The leader unnerved her. He was young, only a few years her senior, and lean and impressively handsome even more in this kind of company. He wore a plain white and gray yukata with a long sword hanging by his side. He had shaggy snow white hair and splayed out in all directions and his pink lips were always in a soft smile. His eyes were gray dull specks that watched her with obscured curiosity.

He'd spoken in a calm and soothing voice that frightened her and he was as friendly as can be.

He brushed a soft thumb across her cheek as he told her that his name was Kotsuki and that he would strike her pretty head off her pretty neck if she made any kind of fuss.

He'd instructed his men that no lasting harm was to be done to her unless absolutely necessary. That was his job, he told them.

He left afterwards, saying that he was going to sleep and that was the last Ino saw of him until now.

She'd been on the edge, waiting and kept her eyes glancing every now and then on the way he'd gone, afraid of his return. Especially when they beat her just for something to do (to see if her blood limit would show) and she made sounds. She was afraid it'd wake him.

She didn't fear these men he'd left her with. With the training her father put her through, even without becoming a genin or a real shinobi, she knew she could handle them albeit needing some luck.

But the thought of Kotsuki, a missing-nin from the looks of him, a dangerous shinobi, kept her fearful.

She saved her chakra, knowing that she would need it to break out. Humiliating as it may be, she would need help to find freedom. She was sure her father already had people on the way.

She hoped they'd come before Kotsuki did anything.

He looked down at her now, noting the smooth pale skin of her shoulder where they'd torn her kimono.

He sat on his haunches and smiled at her.

"You're a pretty, pretty girl, you know."

She looked back at him, the fear in her eyes real.

"And I like pretty, pretty girls."

She looked away and he ran a finger down her neck.

"You know, even without the ransom, I could set you free," he told her.

She didn't look back. She knew a trick when she heard one. Particularly from dangerous men like Kotsuki who liked 'pretty, pretty girls'.

"You could show me that family jutsu and let me use it," he said with a hint of amusement as she shivered under his touch. "Or... if you're really, really good to me..."

Her eyes widened at this and she glared at him furiously, fear gone.

She would never let him ruin her honor. There was only one man in the world that was going to do that and she was going to marry him one day. He wasn't going to be Kotsuki. She would die first.

He chuckled as he stood up. " _Jōdanda._ "

She glared at him hatefully.

"I knew you weren't docile," he smiled good naturedly. "There's fire in you. And if you use it, I'll consume it whole. I'll consume every last spark in you from the inside out and you know very well that nothing will stop me."

The words chilled Ino's very soul. He disappeared as quick as he came, leaving her a shuddering mess in the dirty, damp corner.

"Daddy..." She sobbed as quiet as she could manage.

* * *

Shikamaru kept his eyes on the haze filled sky.

He felt uneasy.

It wasn't the discomfort of an attack or the feeling that someone was watching them. It was something else that bothered him.

Somehow, he couldn't help but think of the Yamanak they were looking for.

He closed his eyes with annoyance and tried to sleep.

* * *

_"What are you looking at, Pineapple Head?" She snapped with such force for a five year old that you wouldn't notice the faint blush across her nose, the stick of ikayaki in her hand momentarily forgotten._

_They were sitting in a bench while their parents were talking to other people at a distance._

_Apparently, the girl liked Chouji instantly and clung to him now that her father was busy socializing._

_Chouji smiled as he ate his own ikayaki and yakitori._

_Shikamaru wasn't sure if she should know but she'd called him such a stupid name. They weren't even real friends yet. Only Chouji could call him names and Chouji never did._

_"You eat like a pig with three stomachs," he told her, throwing his kakiko-ri on the trash nearby. "I didn't know girls could have such big mouths to chew that much."_

_There was a moment that her blue eyes seemed to sparkle with tears and Shikamaru almost felt guilty until she glared at him and threw Chouji's squid at him._

_"Baka, Pineapple!" She yelled. "I didn't eat before we came here!"_

_Shikamaru hadn't been able to dodge the accurately thrown seafood and it had hit him squarely in the chest, leaving a huge stain that his mother would surely not stop growling about for days on end._

_"You're a troublesome pig!" He glared heatedly. "Ino-Pig!"_

Ino had given him his first punch. He wondered how could he have ever forgotten the loudmouthed girl and smiled, worries forgotten at the moment as he fell into sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On Chapter Three:
> 
> When will Team 10 reach Ino?  
> Kotsuki, you bastard! Don't touch her!
> 
> Shikamaru remembers more of the troublesome girl.


End file.
